


Remind me

by nottimagiche



Category: Men's Football RPF
Genre: Angst, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-07 19:20:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20822489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nottimagiche/pseuds/nottimagiche
Summary: Set after the Southampton match in September 2019. Some references to real events.





	Remind me

**Author's Note:**

> Set after the Southampton match in September 2019. Some references to real events.

Dele picked at the end of the beige Kinesio tape wrapped around his thigh. The tape curled around his leg like a snake, again, starting from the curve of his buttock, sliding down the sides of his hamstring before coming to rest just above his knee. It felt excessive, today, seeing as he hadn’t played a minute and after the disaster at Colchester, perhaps he wouldn’t have to expect any for a while.

The tape was always the same, the beige with the black fake-tattoo pattern. How he hated the tape and all it stood for. Weakness, defeat, insult and injury.

Dele took the loosened end between his fingers and forcefully yanked the tape off his body, the hairs on his leg standing up. The pain felt good. The lads were making their way off the pitch and Dele the sub was supposed to be a good sport, feel elated, relieved to get a win but he didn’t feel like it.

Not today.

***

After showering and pulling on his trackies and t-shirt, Eric scanned the dressing room with still no sign of Dele. The track jacket was still hanging in the number 20 spot but no sight or sound of the younger man. _Where’s Del?_ he mouthed in Kyle’s direction but only received a shrug.

Eric turned to the small touch on his shoulder and found Jan’s face tantalisingly close to his own.

“I think Dele is in the equipment room”, Jan leaned in, his voice almost inaudible. “Maybe you should go talk to him.”

“What’s he doing in the equipment room—”

“—Hiding in the equipment room”, Jan clarified, eyes sombre as they met Eric’s.

Eric exhaled slowly. Why was it still his job to rescue Dele, find Dele, go talk to Dele, when they were no longer them. _We’re not us anymore_, he had been told, and he hadn’t forgotten.

For a nanosecond he thought about arguing with Jan but who the hell would go talk to Dele if not him, who else would know why the striker was hiding from his teammates.

***

Opening the unlocked door Eric could see a pair of socked feet sticking out from the corner. “What the hell are you doing?” he voiced as he approached the seated form but stopped as he saw the younger man with his face in his hands.

Eric crouched down and touched Dele’s knee. “Hey.”

“Maybe I want to be alone”, came under the hands.

“Maybe not the best time and place for it, mate”, Eric replied. He had seen Dele pull all manner of behaviour over the years but this was not right. “Would you like to join your teammates to celebrate, please?”

“I don’t really feel like a teammate today”, Dele replied, lowering his hands but keeping his eyes averted from Eric’s. “More like a crocked liability.”

“What are you talking about, you played 90 minutes three days ago, you thought gaffer was going to play you in this match?”

“You got to play”, Dele raised his eyes.

“For glorious 20 minutes, see me having a meltdown about it?” Eric’s voice was angrier than he intended, he wasn’t proud of it.

Dele’s eyes suddenly seemed desperately sad. “You don’t have to be so rude about it”, he said quietly before raising his palms against his cheeks. Eric was instantly transported to many a night, a long time ago, when Dele’s insecurities would raise their heads and the darker man’s attempt to control them was manifested in the palms against cheeks. Almost like squeezing his face would make the desperate thoughts vanish, the pressure on his bones a kind of respite.

“Hey”, Eric sounded again and brought his hands to touch Dele’s. “Listen… you are important and you’ll bounce back from this, you’re just having a bad day, let’s go out there and join the lads, they were wondering where you were, all the lads care for you and want you to do well, maybe you should talk to the gaffer if you’re having a tough time—”

“Important to you?” Dele voiced.

“Eh?”

“Am I important to you?”

Eric sighed. _We’re not us anymore_, he had been told, not too long ago.

“Yes, you are important to me, of course you are.”

A sad smile played on Dele’s lips. “Can you say, _Del, I forgive you for being a fucking idiot, please come home with me tonight_.”

Eric’s heart sank in his chest. It didn’t skip a beat, it sank and slowly rose back up again, probably close to what a heart attack would feel like, Eric felt. “What”, he let out involuntarily before other logical thoughts had a chance to form.

“Can I… come home… with you tonight?” Dele repeated, slowly and deliberately, petrified.

“My home?” Eric said slowly.

“It was a lot like our home for a while”, Dele ventured, still terrified.

“Hmm”, Eric sounded, the familiar sound never quite an affirmation, just a recognition. Eric kept his eyes on Dele. “Not long ago, you said, you told me—”

“I know—”

“—And now you want to go home with me, to do what?”

Dele’s pulse rose in his veins at the prospect of what they were both now contemplating. What he would give to lie next to Eric in bed, pale fingertips tracing dark skin, it was the best cure for all ailments.

“I would like to…” Dele swallowed empty, “to show you… how much I still love you. How important you are to me. In return maybe you can… remind me that I’m worth something.”

Eric exhaled sharply. His thighs were killing him from the crouching, so he slipped to his knees on the linoleum floor and pressed his forehead against Dele’s. “If I try to let you go, you can’t just pull me back in.”

“I’m sorry”, Dele whispered, “but I want to. It’s just that I’ve noticed I can’t really… manage… without you.”

“Good God”, Eric exhaled.

“Maybe just to talk?” Dele ventured.

Eric raised his head from Dele’s, his eyes clouded in the dim light of the room. “You do know that if you come home with me, I will fuck you so hard you won’t remember your name.”

Dele drew a shaky breath. “’That a promise?”

Eric stood up and pulled Dele up with him. “So hard you will whimper”, he spoke inches from Dele’s mouth.

“Yes please”, Dele breathed before he crushed his lips fully against Eric’s, two mouths opening in tandem, the rhythm and movements all too familiar, moisture finding scorching moisture as their tongues desperately sought to reacquaint themselves. Dele pressed himself tightly against Eric’s body, hoping the strength from the larger frame would seep into his, like it had for years, to heal him and remind his muscles, bones and frail tendons where they belonged.

Dele let out a small moan when Eric broke the contact and quickly guided the two towards the dressing room, desperate to make their way home. Most lads had already showered, changed and left, with the prospect of a free Sunday looming. Eric picked up his backpack while Dele zipped up his tracksuit top.

“Hang on, you were going to your parents’, yeah?” Dele said, pointing at Eric’s black backpack.

“No.”

“Don’t lie, you would always go to your parents’ after a Saturday match if you had your backpack with you.”

“So?” Eric raised his eyebrow. “You want me to go to my parents’?”

“No, I mean…” Dele smiled widely at Eric. “If it’s no trouble, then no.”

“OK then.”

The two made their way to the corridors behind the stadium, past more adoring fans, more photos, the smiles growing even wider.

“I mean”, Dele continued when they were within speaking distance from the crowds and moving towards the underground car park, “Your Mum’s not going to like it if you said you’d go and then you don’t go and you’re with me instead.”

“Del, you’re not my Mum’s favourite person at the moment anyway so I think it’ll be OK.”

“I knew it, your Mum hates me.”

“And my Dad, and my sisters and my brothers, so you’ve got everyone covered there.” Eric opened the door to his Range Rover. “Coming in or following?”

Without answering, Dele jumped in the passenger seat of the large car. There was no way he would let Dier change his mind and drive off. Dele looked on quietly as Eric manoeuvred the large vehicle down the High Street and then south the A503.

“Will Patrick be there?” he asked after a while, knowing Eric’s youngest brother lived with him.

“No, he’s at my parents’.”

“Where you’re supposed to be.”

“Give it a rest or we’re not doing this”, Eric looked over at Dele and flashed the type of smile that made Dele feel everything was right in the world.

“How are your courses going?” Dele continued, “I haven’t asked you in a while.”

“They’re fine, haven’t had very much time since the season started”, Eric replied. “If I don’t get called up to England, I’ll work on some papers then.”

“Hmm”, Dele sounded. He wasn’t quite sure how Eric managed uni studies alongside football, but everyone had different priorities and his own certainly weren’t uni studies.

“Last international break you went to Portugal again”, Dele said, not quite a question because somehow, he knew without being told.

“I did, it was Paddy’s birthday.”

“We need to be picked for the next squad, I need to see Trips again.”

“What, you haven’t facetimed him since he left?”

“No, and it’s not the same”, Dele said, looking out the window. “You know I don’t like change.”

Eric looked at Dele’s form. “You say that but you can make a pretty big change if you feel like it.”

Dele turned to look back at Eric. “You know it wasn’t easy, you know I was struggling with everything and I panicked because I thought that would fix it and maybe being in this car is a reminder that I really don’t like change.”

“OK, calm down—”

“I love you, that hasn’t changed.”

Eric looked stunned at the wheel, turning to his home street. Dele felt proud he could still shock his Mr European-international-multilingual-cosmopolitan into silence, and felt proud he could still say those words. He was thrilled he still meant them.

“Bloody hell, Del”, Eric finally said as he parked the car in the driveway. “You’re full of surprises today.”

“I didn’t tell you enough, I know that.”

“Well, I don’t think I did either, except when…” Eric blushed slightly, “you know.”

“I know”, Dele smiled, “before, during, after, I always loved hearing it. Always.”

Eric’s heart swelled in his chest and he leaned over to kiss Dele softly. His heart was still broken, broken by the man whose hand now came to the back of his neck to pull their mouths closer together. Eric wasn’t really ready to revisit the pain but he wasn’t above burying his cock deep within Dele. Nothing wrong with that.

“Listen”, he breathed against Dele’s mouth, “if you come in, you know what will happen, but beyond that, I’m not ready for anything else now, not today.”

Dele pulled back and looked at the flush on Eric’s cheeks and the soft pink of his lips. The pit of his stomach twitched in anticipation. “OK”, he said.

“I mean it”, Eric repeated, “no matter that you’ve told me today.”

“I said OK, are you hard of hearing?”

“Don’t be disrespectful or you’re not coming in at all.”

“Sorry but I do need your mouth on my cock pretty soon so are we going in or what?”

“You’re a class act, Del”, Eric sighed as he rose from the car.

“Hey, you’re the one who said whimper”, Dele exclaimed he followed the older man shaking his head. “Whimper”, he repeated in Eric’s ear as the tall man opened his front door and Dele followed inside, took Eric by the hand and proceeded upstairs.

He knew where he was going.

***

Dele was relieved to see no bedspread on the neatly made bed but the sight of the grey and white sheets made him stop. He let go of Eric’s hand. “I remember these sheets”, he said quietly. “My favourite sheets.”

Eric bit his teeth, contemplating whether to crack a joke or confess why these still covered his bed. He opted for a bit of both. “*My* favourite sheets, I’ll have you know”, he said with a smile. “But we did have some good times in these.”

Dele looked back at him. “After what I said… and did… you didn’t feel like burning these to a crisp?”

“Do you understand how fabric works, Del, it can’t turn into a crisp—”

“—Jesus Christ—”

“—it will just disintegrate—”

“—oh my God you are an idiot—”

“—and where would I burn sheets exactly, in the backyard?”

“Arrgggh”, Dele exhaled, “Stop it.”

“You would not be here if you can’t take the Dier wit.”

“I’m really on the verge of not being here, Diet.”

At the sound of the old nickname, Eric grabbed Dele’s arm forcefully. “Any chance of getting fucked tonight will disappear with 100 per cent certainty if you ever call me that again.” Eric looked at Dele with steely eyes and tightened his grip.

“Are you serious?” Dele asked.

“100 per cent serious, now take your clothes off or I’ll do it for you.”

Dele cracked a smile. “You *could* do it for me—”

“Take them off now”, Eric growled, not entirely serious but he loved how Dele couldn’t read his cues anymore. He looked as the younger man disrobed quickly, the long member between the taunt legs twitching in the air.

“Is that for me?” Eric raised an eyebrow and rolled his tongue across his teeth, looking at the flushed flesh.

“For you”, Dele breathed and lowered himself on the bed as Eric pulled his t-shirt off and shimmied his trackies to the floor.

“You know”, Eric smiled, “since you were so desperate to come here, let’s agree that you do what I say, yes?”

“Babe, come on—”

They both froze at the sound of the endearment, so common between them for so long that it slipped with ease from Dele’s tongue but now it was a foreign object, suspended in air between them, breaking both their hearts again.

After a moment, Eric cleared his throat, looking at the naked Dele in front of him.

“Remind me… what did I use to call you?” his tone was soft.

Dele swallowed empty and cursed the day he had let this man go. “_Love_, you used to say _love_”, Dele spoke quietly, and watched as Eric lowered himself on the bed. “_Amor_ you would say sometimes.” Dele touched the bare skin on Eric’s thigh.

“And you, what did you call me?” Eric placed his hand on Dele’s fingers on his skin.

Dele raised himself on the bed and turned his fingers so that they laced with Eric’s. He could feel their pulses race in the contact of their skins.

_"Babe_, I would say _babe_ sometimes, _lover_ sometimes, _my love_ sometimes…” Dele breathed heavily. “And _Eric_… I would always say Eric when I came… over and over… you remember?” Dele held Eric’s gaze and saw the pale man’s chest rise and fall with his laboured breathing.

“I remember”, Eric said quietly, before leaning in and claiming Dele’s lips, softly at first, before leaning his body to rest on top of Dele’s, pressing the two frames tighter into the sheets.

There was no sign of time passing, hearts breaking or bodies disconnecting in the way the two moved slowly together, skin on skin, heat from the contact slowly reaching their cores and rebuilding the burn that had never really extinguished. Dele’s hand roamed desperately across the large expanse of Eric’s back, pulling, pressing and holding as Eric’s hands held Dele’s face, palms on cheeks but in the way that warmed Dele’s bones. Dele raised his hips to cover more of his own body with his lover’s, desperate to feel every inch of himself again, every inch of Eric. Dele wrapped his legs around Eric’s hips and felt the maddening sensation of Eric slowly sliding up and down against his entrance. He didn’t understand how he had let go of this feeling, he couldn’t wrap his brain around why they weren’t doing this all day every day.

Eric let out a moan as the friction built against his cock and Dele’s mouth left a trail of wetness across his skin. He was relieved to see they still weren’t big talkers during sex, all the sensations were enough to communicate everything they needed. Dele’s hips rising to meet his movements were driving him insane and he couldn’t understand why they weren’t doing to this all day every day. Oh right, there was that small issue of Dele leaving him.

Eric’s mouth left Dele’s as the thought hit him again and Dele could sense the tightening in the older man’s body. In an instant, Dele rolled them around on the bed so that Eric lay beneath him and Dele sat over his hips.

“What is it?” Dele breathed as he rolled his hips against Eric’s, Eric’s hands over his thighs.

“You left me”, Eric let out of small sob and he felt moisture pool in the corners of his eyes.

Dele brought his hands to his face again, his face crumbling underneath as his chest shook with a wave of emotion. He leaned down over Eric’s chest, pressed his whole body against his lover’s and wrapped his arms tightly around Eric’s neck.

“I’m sorry”, Dele breathed into Eric’s neck. “I shouldn’t have.”

“No, you shouldn’t have”, Eric spoke against darker skin, his hands resting on Dele’s back. “And this will not make it OK.”

Dele raised his head to look up at Eric. “I know that”, he pressed a kiss on the soft lips. “But I can try.”

The two held a gaze for a long moment before eventually Eric gave a small nod, his eyes still sad but hope building somewhere in his chest. Dele lowered his body again to cover Eric’s, his groin pressing deliciously against hardened flesh and Dele brought his hands to Eric’s hair.

“See, finally I can run my fingers through your hair, to pull it when I want to, finally.”

Eric had to admit, having Dele pull his hair and tilt his head back to attack his neck and throat had its advantages. He raised his hips against Dele’s. “That’s all well and good but let’s switch now.”

Dele raised his torso from Eric’s and leaned back slightly but instead of rolling over, he proceeded to lift Eric’s legs around his hips.

“Let me do this”, Dele spoke at the puzzled look on Eric’s face. “We almost never did it this way.”

“But I had something else in mind”, Eric breathed heavily as Dele rolled slowly against his entrance, fingers gliding across his abdomen.

“You do yours next, I’m not going anywhere.”

With that, Dele pressed his way inside Eric, the tip entering slowly as Eric lifted his hips to meet the contact. As Dele pressed forward, the building pressure forced a soft whimper from Eric’s lips, a sound that ignited a laugh in both men before it was replaced by sounds of a more guttural kind. Their pace quickened and Eric’s hands found their way to his own hair, to pull, to squeeze, to somehow make the sensation bearable. Dele’s fingers pressed tightly into Eric’s thighs as he begged for forgiveness with every thrust. The pace continued to grow, more sounds filled the air and as two sets of fingers found each other to intertwine with force, and the release, the rising bodies, the names sighed and the trembling limbs and muscles filled the void between them.

***

“The next time I act stupid, just remind me.”

“Of what?”

“That you love me.”

“Is that the cure?”

“For everything.”

_\- Fin - _


End file.
